New Balance Nationals Meet Preview

The one and only High School indoor championship meet this season is loaded with stars

Now that the former Nike Indoor Nationals (most recently held in Boston) has joined with the Armory’s National Scholastics to form the New Balance Nationals, the runway has been cleared for the best competitors nationwide to be showcased at a single national indoor championship meet for high school runners.

Here’s a quick bite of what’s in store day by day, followed by a more detailed look at each of the distance events.

*On Friday evening, in the 5,000s, Verzbicas will go after his own national indoor record of 14:18.42 set two years ago in the Nike meet when he was a freshman. The girls’ record of 16:43.02 set at the Armory in 2004 is also within reach from a field featuring a half-dozen Foot Locker cross-country finalists, plus Millrose Games mile winner Samantha Nadel, a North Shore (NY) junior. The boys’ distance medley relay should be an all-New Jersey affair with the come-backing twins Joe and Jim Rosa, passing on individual events, hoping to put West Windsor Plainsboro North in position to hold off St. Benedicts Prep and its scintillating anchorman, the young Kenyan Edward Cheserek.

In the girls’ DMR, Blacksburg and Hidden Valley will bring their rivalry up from Virginia to go up against the great Saratoga Springs (NY) Kinetic squad, Lincoln-Sudbury (MA), anchored by mile contender Andrea Keklak, and long-shot Fayetteville-Manlius (NY), the 5-time NXN champion low-keying the indoor season.

*On Saturday morning, the boys’ 4 x mile also has the look of a New Jersey show-stopper as Christian Brothers Academy, Nike Cross Nationals 5th-placer in December, is set to duel Haddonfield, Livingston and possibly West Windsor if the Rosas double back, among other contenders. On the girls’ side, national record holder (19:59.24) Saratoga has practically owned this event and the Blue Streaks’ quartet is very solid led by Villanova-bound Amanda Burroughs, enjoying an excellent winter campaign. On Saturday evening, the 4 x 800s should be close contests but without some of the luster of recent years.

*On Sunday afternoon, the Armory will be on fire with the boys and girls two-mile, mile and 800 all contested within a two-hour period. First, Foot Locker national champion and heavy favorite Aisling Cuffe of Cornwall (NY) will shoot for a sub-10:00 two-mile, and Verzbicas, with Edward Cheserek in tow, will go after Lindgren’s 8:40. Then a wide open girls’ mile with Samantha Nadel doubling back from the 5,000m will be followed by Verzbicas’ possible curtain call, as he challenges a fresh Elias Gedyon, the California star from Los Angeles Loyola, and New Yorker Chad Noelle, the man without a team from Greene High whose credentials include the Millrose mile title. Finally, the girls’ 800 (some would say the best is saved for last) will pit the versatile Cardozo (NY) senior Claudia Francis against New Jersey smoothie Ajee Wilson, the Neptune junior who ran a spectacular 2-flat relay leg last June. The boys’ 800 may have the hottest last-lap fireworks potential of the meet’s individual events with a quartet of top contenders, three of whom are national leaders this season.

The 800

Boys: The big four are Brooks (WA) Invitational winner Nick Kaiser (MI) in 1:52.25 (on the oversized — 307m — track in Seattle); Pennsylvania state champion and national 800 leader Wade Endress in 1:51.73; U.S. #1 1000m runner Zavon Watkins (NY) in 2:26.13; and the dynamic Bronx junior Strymar Livingston, U.S. leader in the 500 (1:02.88) and 600 (1:17.64), the latter a national record. Watkins and Livingston are coming off New York State meet defeats in the 1000 and 600, respectively, but when you put Livingston back at the Armory, on his “home” track, with those sling-shot banks, he’ll be hard to beat. But watch out for Endress, who also captured his state mile (4:13.34) and should have the strength to capitalize on any opponent’s lapse in the last 200.

Girls: Wilson going full-out in the 800 should be a thing of beauty and it’s hard to imagine even so imposing a figure as Francis getting in the way. While Francis owns the three fastest 600 times in the country (her U.S. #1 1:29.98 is .7 off the national record) and three of the top four times in the 800 (led by her 2:10.00) — and ran away from Wilson in a Colgate Games qualifier back on New Year’s Eve — Wilson is coming off her Brooks mile win after some weeks of doubling and tripling in state qualifying events in which she’d ripped off a 53-second 400 relay leg. With her sub-4:50 mile strength and leopard-like quickness, Wilson could have a shot at Mary Decker’s indoor record of 2:01.8 set in 1974 (with a possible 2-flat relay carry reprise in Saturday’s sprint medley final also in the cards).

The Mile

Boys: Don’t think a tired Verzbicas can play with the likes of Gedyon, who ran 4:07.58 for 2nd at Brooks, well ahead of the rest of the all-star field. As for Noelle, who captured his state two-mile (9:08.29) in a breeze last Saturday, he’s amassed an Everest of quiet strength, trucking his workouts alone and has been peaking — he calls it a mini-peak — for Sunday. While he has no team behind him, Noelle, who is headed to Oregon along with Verzbicas, will have a future teammate to buddy with. Look for Maryland’s Matt Jablonski, Brooks two-mile runner-up in 9:02.51, to make his presence felt. And what of Verzbicas — why triple? Well…he can always beg off without consequences if he’s too beat up. And in the mile he’d be in a no-risk situation: a victory and he’s that much greater; a loss (even badly) and who can fault him?

Girls: This race is up for grabs. National 1000 leader Andrea Keklak, the savvy Lincoln-Sudbury (MA) runner, vs. Nadel, fresh off her state 3,000 runner-up (9:33.41, that’s hopping) to Cuffe, vs. Molly McNamara of Red Bank Catholic, in the best shape of her life after a New Jersey Meet of Champions title, vs. New England mile champ Kathy O’Keefe of Newton South (MA), vs. soph twins Haley and Hannah Meier of Michigan, vs. Long Island street fighter Kelsey Margey of Harborfields—these are others are all in the 4:50 to 4:55 range. I’m going with Nadel.

The Two-Mile

Boys: Off his impatiently-paced 8:43.24 in the Lagat record-breaker at the Armory on Feb. 12, we know that Verzbicas is capable of sub-8:40. The question is whether Cheserek can give him the race to get it. Cheserek has run doubles and triples all season. This is his first individual race fresh. Cheserek has had his own pacing problems but all he needs to do is follow Verzbicas. Either Cheserek (remember: a close 2nd to Verzbicas at NXN) will be the equal of Verzbicas and, 8:40 or not, we’ll have a great race on our hands. Or Verzbicas will be too much for Cheserek and will have to count on pursuing lapped runners in the last 800 to push him under the record. Friday’s competition, with Verzbicas in the 5,000 and Cheserek on the distance medley anchor, will help clarify Sunday’s match-up.

Girls: Okay, let’s all but hand Cuffe the gold medal. Coming off a state 3000 title last Saturday on the slowish Cornell track in a New York State record 9:29.89 (6th fastest ever nationally), the little dynamo is ready for her March 20 world cross-country date in Spain and also emboldened for a sub-10-minute attempt at the Armory. Her outdoor 9:20.94 3k last year was equivalent to sub-10, and Cuffe is a lot stronger now. Melody Fairchild’s 9:55.92 national mark from 1991 is not out of the question. The best bet for 2nd may be Pennsylvania soph Sara Sargent of Pennsbury High, who is well recovered from her late fall bout with mono and winner of her state 3000 by 13 seconds in a meet record 9:49.27. Sargent has looked sharp in recent workouts on the other side of the Delaware at Lawrenceville Prep’s indoor banked track near Princeton.

The 5,000

Boys: The meet will get off to a rocketing start with Verzbicas’ Friday record attempt. A 4:03/8:43 mile/deuce performer should be able to break 14 minutes, and nothing less should be Verzbicas’ goal. He could well lap the field, which, to be honest, is fairly modest for a national event. Friday’s distance medleys steal some of the talent. (Cheserek himself would love to run the 5k but he’s committed to his team’s chances in the relay.).

Girls: Samantha Nadel could emerge from the Nationals as something like the heir apparent to Cuffe. After recovering from an iron deficiency last fall, Nadel has been flying high since, and her 9:33 3k behind Cuffe last Saturday, equivalent to about a 10:10 two-mile, suggests that the 16:43.02 national mark is on shaky ground. (That record was set by New Jersey age-group star Brianna Jackucewicz as a 7th-grader, currently at Harvard. The stat wardens declared the mark a high school record.) Other contenders include Foot Locker 10th-placer Gabrielle Anzalone (MI), Boston Grand Prix mile champ and Yale 3,000 winner Lindsay Crevoiserat (CT), senior twins Kathryn and Erika Fleuhr coming up from Florida, along with Foot Locker 14th-placer Waverly Neer (IN), who will attend college a short jog away at Columbia.